Proposal for Award for Attendance at BINDT Annual Conferences by a Foreign Delegate

Background
The aim of this award is to encourage the attendance at the BINDT annual conferences by contributors from foreign nations.  The target group for this award are individuals from the profession of NDT and Condition Monitoring (CM) who wish to attend the conferences but are unable to do so due to financial constraints.  Applicants can range from individuals at an early career stage or be experienced contributors who are unable to attend because of restricted finance.  The title of the award will be ‘The Conference Attendance Award’

Key principles
1) The award is expected to be available annually for attendance at the NDT and CM conferences to present a paper of interest to the relevant community.
2) The award will consist of a contribution towards travel, subsistence and conference fees.  The amount will be typically up to £500 but will depend on particular circumstances.
3) The recipient will be asked to provide feedback to the Institute indicating benefits or problems to ensure that future awards meet their objectives.
4) It is anticipated that one award will be available annually for each conference.

Financial arrangements
1) The Institute has allocated a fund from which these awards will be made.
2) If the costs exceed the limit of the award (expected to be a maximum of £500) the recipient must obtain the remaining funds from other bodies.
3) The magnitude of the financial part of the award will not be publicised.  The recipient's name and employer will be publicised at the conferences because they are both relevant to the award.
4) The award will be paid after the conference on the presentation of suitable receipts directly to the Institute CEO.
5) If no suitable applicant is identified the award will be held over for subsequent years.

Judging Panels
The judging panels will consist of five members (with expertise in NDT and CM respectively) for each conference who are appointed by the Council of the Institute.  Normally they will comprise the chairpersons (or other representatives) of the main committees (NDT and CM Technical Committees, Industry, Executive Committee, MQ&E and CMC).

Eligibility Criteria
1) Applicants should be permanent residents of a foreign nation.
2) Recipients must have had a paper accepted for presentation at the relevant conference that they wish to attend, at which point they will be asked to submit an application form.
3) Recipients must have demonstrated that conference attendance will make a strong contribution to their professional activities and be supported by referees who would normally be their managers or senior colleagues.
4) Recipients must supply a description of the financial limitations that the award is intended to overcome.

Judging Criteria
This award is intended to enhance the conference by allowing contributions from someone who would not otherwise be able to attend.  The selection process must consider the following aspects for each applicant.

Technical content of the paper – The criterion here is the value to the other conference delegates in having the author present their work. The Award will be made mainly on the basis of the quality of the written paper, rather than on the quality of the oral presentation. This will allow the judging process to be completed before the conference. However, a check will be made by members of the NDT and CM Technical Committees to ensure that the quality of the oral presentation of the proposed winner is acceptable.

Professional Development – The criterion for this aspect of the award is the extent to which attendance will contribute to the professional development of the applicant in the field of NDT and CM. 

Limited finances – The key criterion will be the description of the limitation on funds available balanced against the benefits of attendance.
The judging panel may take other factors into account in reaching their decision
 
Award Schedule
1) Include opportunity of award and sponsoring organisation on the Call for Papers adverts. Suitable wording could be:

’The Institute is able to offer an award, to support speakers from outside the UK with the cost of attendance.  The award is aimed at individuals who will make a significant contribution to the conference but may be restrained from attending due to limited finance.  To apply for this award please request an application form when submitting your abstract to the Institute and, provided the paper is accepted for presentation, ensure the completed form is returned by 27 July 2012 for NDT conference and 20 April 2012 for CM conference  with the necessary supporting documents. The successful applicant will be notified by 10 August for NDT conference and 4 May for CM conference.’